When Microsoft first announced its mobile reboot as “Windows Phone 7 Series” there was immediate backlash due to its length and, well, it’s quite the mouthful. After some deliberation, Microsoft decided to listen to its critics and potential customers; the new mobile OS is now branded “Windows Phone 7.” Ahh, soo much better, isn’t it?
And while we’re still feeling the effects of April Fool’s Day, I’ll let you in a little Windows Phone 7 gag that got me and the rest of the tech community. On April 1 PocketNow broke news that all WP7 devices would not support replaceable batteries, falling in Apple’s footsteps. They reported: “The move is intended to promote clean and attractive hardware designs which are sure to impress. Nobody wants to see an ugly battery cover latch on a phone running something as beautiful as the Windows Phone 7 Series OS.” But it turned out to be a hoax. So there you go.
The dudes at the online shop ThinkGeek bring us the Dharma Initiative Alarm Clock. Our Dharma Initiative Alarm Clock is conveniently programmable to go off only once every 24 hours, and at a time convenient to you. But if you don’t get the numbers right before you see the hieroglyphs, there’s no guaranteeing what will happen. All you gotta do is type in the numbers 4 18 15 16 23 42 to stop an electromagnetic cataclysm…er, turn off the alarm. It requires 2 x AAA batteries and comes with a 23-year warranty, “or until your house implodes.” Now that’s some extra motivation to get up in the morning, now ain’t it? Only $49.99. Check out the video below to see it in action.
The fellas at ThinkGeek asked themselves, “How cool would it be to slide your iPad into a desktop-sized arcade cabinet and rock it old school with some Pac-Man or Space Invaders?” Enter the iCade, an iPad arcade cabinet. It’s simple, really. Slide your iPad into the built-in docking cradle, plug in the included 10-watt USB power adapter for extra power, and load up a classic arcade game using the iCade app (available in the App Store on iPad launch day). The handcrafted wooden cabinet somehow stuffs 2.1 Dolby speakers and a subwoofer! Look in the gallery below for some game screenshots. Future iPad buyers, get your iCade today for $149.99.
If you’ve already got an iPhone, forget the iPad. All you have to do is place your iPhone into the the back panel and the Pad-Dock iPhone to Tablet Converter uses a touch-screen magnifier to enlarge your iPhone screen to the exact dimensions of an iPad. That’s all there is to it! And unlike the iPad, this converter device will be able to make phone calls since your iPhone powers it. Available to purchase here for a price of £89.99.
CNET UK is reports: “Eloi Cole, a strangely dressed young man, said that he had travelled back in time to prevent the LHC from destroying the world.” If you have been keeping up with the news lately, you should know that the scientists at CERN recently had the Large Hadron Collider successfully collide particles at record force. Their aim is to smash together atoms, create mini-black holes, and attempt to discover what exactly happed during the birth of our univierse, the Big Bang. Ever since its inception people are worried that the Switzerland-based LHC experiment might go awry and cause a huge black hole on Earth leading to instant worldwide death. Time-traveller Cole was at one point captured by Swiss police and explained why he came to stop the LHC from continuing its work: “Countries do not exist where I am from. The discovery of the Higgs boson led to limitless power, the elimination of poverty and Kit-Kats for everyone. It is a communist chocolate hellhole and I’m here to stop it ever happening.” According to the latest reports, “Mr. Cole was taken to a secure mental health facility in Geneva but later disappeared from his cell. Police are baffled, but not that bothered.”
As I am sure many of you noticed today, Google changed its name to Topeka. But why, you ask? Well because the town of Topeka, Kansas changed its name to Google for the month of April. Topeka, Kansas is one of many communities that have entered a pool of contestents to vie for a fiber-based 1 gigabit broadband network to be provided by Google sometime in the near future. To get Google’s attention, Topeka Google’s Mayor Bill Bunten changed the town’s name and this is how Google pays it forward. Though it’s quite a gesture of gratitude, Google has this to say: “We want to be clear that this initiative is a one-shot deal that will have no bearing on which municipalities are chosen to participate in our experimental ultra-high-speed broadband project, to which Google, Kansas has been just one of many communities to apply.” And that’s why you see Topeka at www.google.com today.
“Google Translate for Animals” does just what you think an app with that name would do. Check it out in action in the video above.
The latest addition to YouTube is TEXTp, a text-only mode way of watching (most) YouTube videos. Once you flip the switch (found in the same place to select SD/HD modes) the YouTube video will playback in ASCII code, or a dumbed down jumble of letters and numbers. It’s pretty neat! The Lego Matrix stop motion video was made to be dressed in ASCII code, and Trololo (the Creepy La-La-La Guy) looks downright funky.
Google on the new addition: “TEXTp is the result of months of intense transcoding efforts by our engineers, who toiled for weeks to ensure that a large chunk of videos on the platform could be reduced to their most basic elements.” “For every person who selects TEXTp and keeps it on while you watch a video, you save YouTube $1 a second, resulting in potentially billions of dollars of savings for us.”
Head over to YouTube to check out your favorites in TEXTp mode, or add append &textp=fool to the end of any video URL to enable the feature. This better not be a one-day deal, Google!
And lastly there’s the new Google Wave wave notifications. They’re real time, real life notifications from a human male in a lab coat who literally waves at you when your Wave account receives a new message. To enable the new notification system, access the the drop down menu that appears in the Inbox Navigation panel. There you can choose from four levels of loudness: Silent, Medium, Loud or Vibrate. Now see what it’s all about in the video above.
Today Twitter pushed out a redesigned homepage. It’s definitely more effective than previous implementations due to its friendly nature that will likely appeal to non-Twitter users who are looking to find out more about the community. Trending topics and hashtags scroll along the top; what’s prominent now are the “see who’s here” and “top tweets” sections. These sections give visitors a sense of who is adding to the conversation and what‘s being talked about in a bit more detail. Twitter explains:
With the new design, we’re intentionally featuring more dynamic content on the front page, revealing a sample of who’s here, what folks are tweeting about, and the big topics that they’re discussing. The homepage now features a set of algorithmically-selected top tweets that automatically appear every few seconds. It also highlights a random sampling of suggested sources; hover over any of them to see a profile summary and their latest tweet. Trending topics now scroll across the page, allowing us to present a large set of trends using little page real estate. Hovering over some of these trends will show a description explaining why the keyword is (or has recently been) popular.
Now if there was only a way to get rid of all things Justin Beiber.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is “developing a new iPhone to debut this summer.” This bit of news isn’t too surprising if you look at Apple’s track record; since the inception of the iPhone, new handsets have been announced each and every summer. But wait–there’s more! Apple is also “working on another model for US mobile phone operator Verizon Wireless.” In other words, the best smartphone is coming to the best network. We’ve heard these rumors before, but hearing it come from the WSJ make it sound that much sweeter.
Some manufacturing details have surfaced as well. According to “people briefed on the matter” and relayed by the WSJ, the “next iPhone is being manufactured by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry” (the same company behind all previous iPhones) and the first CDMA iPhone (purported to go to VZW) will be manufactured by Pegatron Technology. Mass production of the CDMA iPhone could start as early as this September.
Engadget was tipped about a June 22 unveiling for the next-gen iPhone, dubbed the iPhone HD. Long-time Apple product seer John Gruber added his latest predictions to the mix. He claims the next-gen iPhone will feature the A4-class system-on-a-chip, a 960×640 display, a front-facing camera, and third-party mulititasking support with iPhone OS 4.0.
To sum up: A new iPhone (possibly the “iPhone HD”) will be announced this summer; said iPhone will boast a high-res display and front facing camera (among other predictions); and a CDMA version of the iPhone is headed to Verizon Wireless, with manufacturing to commence as early as September, ending AT&T’s death grip on what is arguablly the world’s best smartphone. Sounds about right to me. Now it’s time to start the waiting game. Summer isn’t that far away, is it?
Slingers, rejoice! Sling Media has come out and stated they are “actively moving towards H.264” and Microsoft Silverlight video support to bring the Slingplayer application to the iPad and Windows Phone 7 Series devices sometime in the near future. The move to these video formats will increase the current resolution of the player from 320×240 to something larger and more expansive. Slingplayer HD, perhaps? Sling had this to say on the matter: “When it makes a noticeable difference in quality, we will definitely provide higher resolution streaming. The iPad is a good example of a device where we are hard at work on this, but unfortunately it won’t be there at the April launch.” Patience is a virtue. That’s what they say, right?
Mixr will be one of the first professional DJ applications for the iPad. The iPad’s large multitouch 9-inch screen will be able to accomodate two fully featured turntables with options for “cross-fading, equalizing, cue, drag & drop tracks, and full effects such as delays and auto filter.” You can create your own libraries, digital DJ crates, and even record your own mixes using tracks from your iTunes music library. As fun and exciting this all sounds, there’s an overarching theme here to be considered: apps like Mixr are just the beginning for the iPad. Thanks to the large screen and intuitive touch controls, the App Store will start to flood with brand new apps made specifically to take advantage of the tablet’s features, inside and out. If you thought the App Store launch on the iPhone was buzz-worthy, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Linux fans face another defeat. This time not to the overarching power of software giants Windows and Mac OS but instead Sony and the PlayStation 3. All PS3 consoles will be stripped of the “Install Other OS” option found in the system settings, disabling users to install Linux onto their PS3s. Sure, the removal of this feature won’t be affecting the majority of PS3 users, but it is still a mightly blow to Linux fans and console tinkerers. Why the sudden change in heart? Sony says it’s “due to security concerns” and that “disabling the “Other OS” feature will help ensure that PS3 owners will continue to have access to the broad range of gaming and entertainment content from SCE and its content partners on a more secure system.” If you are adament about keeping this option, you’re sorta outta luck; if you do not download firmware update (v3.21) you will lose access to PlayStation Network and playing games online, among other things. The update hits all PS3s April 1. It should be noted that all new Slim PS3s were manufactured without the “Other OS” option, so this really only applies to all fat PS3 owners out there.
Believe it or not, this is a trailer for a video game, not a movie. It’s a cinematic look into the fifth installment of the Ghost Recon series called Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. Invisibility, check. Mini combat drones, check. Shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, check. I’m hooked. It releases later this year on all major platforms.
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